Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will not run for a seat in the US Senate next year, according to her office, clearing the way for incumbent New York senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat, to run for re-election unopposed by the progressive congresswoman.
“She is not planning to run for Senate in 2024. She is not planning to primary Gillibrand,” Lauren Hitt, Ocasio-Cortez’s spokesperson, told Politico.
Gillibrand, who launched her re-election campaign in January for a third Senate term, was widely believed to be facing a number of potential challengers in the state primary, including Ocasio-Cortez.
The announcement follows indications from other New York progressives, including Mondaire Jones, representatives Jamaal Bowman and Ritchie Torres, that they are not considering a challenge.
New York Democrats were hit hard in the midterm elections last year and the loss of four seats to Republican candidates is widely blamed for the party losing control of Congress. Avoiding an acrimonious left v progressive battle, and concentrating on recovering the 2022 losses, is considered the party’s political priority.
“I think it’s divisive. And unless you think you can win, it’s divisive unnecessarily,” Jay Jacobs, chair of the New York Democratic Party, told the outlet. “It’s using up resources we need to preserve for more coordinated work and the rest.”
Camille Rivera, a New York-based progressive strategist, said that an intra- Democrat contest “could be pretty bruising and give a Republican a leg up”.
Signs of a deal between Ocasio-Cortez and Gillibrand came after rumors of a Senate seat challenge began to circulate last year. Gillibrand has faced criticism for her part in forcing former Senator Al Franken’s resignation, accepting donations from indicted crypto king Sam Bankman-Fried, and ties to Wall Street.
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But Ocasio-Cortez’s staff’s choice of language – “not planning to run” is not the same as “not running”. Bronx representative Jamaal Bowman told the outlet he heard AOC’s name “weeks ago or months ago maybe” as a primary contender but hadn’t heard it since.
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